Showing posts with label Climate Change. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Climate Change. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 20, 2022

The Beginning of the Path...

  https://twitter.com/ScottHa85992272/status/1517008688757805057?s=20&t=g-cyDZeraww1yNhJ6JaPwQ

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-beginning-of-the-path-to-human-extinction-and-how-to-get-off-it-scott-haley/1141364431?ean=2940160947181

The eBook version is now available. The paperback version will be shortly. If you scroll down at the Barnes & Noble page (above) to "About the author", you'll get a better idea of my qualifications for writing the book.
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Be Well

Saturday, September 18, 2021

"HOT MONEY"...

 with General Wesley Clark & his son, Wes, Jr., & directed by Susan Kucera ("Living in the Future's Past", narrated by Jeff Bridges).  Too bad Clark Sr. wasn't elected President when he ran awhile ago.  It's on Amazon Prime, not the best production for a doc, but the content is on the mark.  It shows precisely why:
1.  the global financial world is so fragile, & why mega banks should be broken up ASAP;
2.  there's so much economic inequality;
3.  most national gov'ts (including ours) are not seriously addressing Climate Change [only some cities & States in the USA are, & that's insufficient];
4.  mostly, the transformation to clean energy is going at a snail's pace;
5.  Climate Change already has started the destruction of the worldwide financial & economic systems;
6.  the new normal will involve mass human migrations never seen before;
7.  too many people apparently fail to recognize the paradigm shift in values which must occur if we are to survive & thrive in the future; and
8.  too many people are wrong when they believe that Tech will save us in time, therefore to them, there's no urgency about any of this, no need to drastically alter politics, the economy, or the financial system...much less our values.
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I imagine this documentary is found not only on Prime, but elsewhere online as well.  Look for it if you really want to understand what's going on currently, and what's required to avoid complete catastrophe.  Off & on, I've been studying this for 50 years (started in 1972 at Arizona State U.), so please believe this:  humans are facing the greatest Crisis in our history, and climate disruption is only a part of it.  The "experts" think we have until 2050 to mitigate the problem & thus avoid total societal breakdown.  In all probability, I believe that benchmark should be moved to the year 2035.  Why?  Because much more than climate is involved.  
It's time for all of us to take this seriously.  Much can be done on the micro scale, & much "lobbying" (of sorts) needs to be done on the macro scale.  Politicians will engage in window dressing efforts unless there's an outcry from the ground up.  History has proven such.
Best of Due Diligence to Everyone
p.s.  STEP 1:  stop believing the Edward Bernays style propaganda put out by most of the Powers-That-Be.  For example, it will take much more than Tech to avoid catastrophe.  Don't believe anyone who says otherwise.
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Not only my opinion.  Be Well

Wednesday, September 8, 2021

Reframing the Crisis

 https://mahb.stanford.edu/blog/the-nature-and-overshoot-crisis-reframing-the-discussion-of-climate-change-and-biodiversity-loss/

While anthropogenic climate disruption is a massive problem requiring immediate attention, let's not marginalize other assaults on the ecosphere.  The article at the link above demonstrates that loss of biodiversity and other related disasters are interconnected to climate change, and every bit as important.

At the root, the ongoing crisis we're facing is as much a question of ethics as anything else.  The hubris of humans in relation to other species and the environment is (in general) beyond the pale.  We have to correct that if we expect to survive and thrive in the future.

We do have a model or two with which to work.  Indigenous societies around the world and certain Eastern religions have understood for thousands of years the importance of treating Nature as sacred.  It turns out they are on the mark.

As Barry Commoner said in 1971, "Nature knows best.".  Our technology has accomplished amazing things, but sorry to say, it also has egregiously damaged our global habitat.  As a species and overall, our attempts to improve human well-being have brought us to the beginning of our own extinction.  Unfortunately, that's true not only in the ecological sphere, but also in the social sphere.

It will take a paradigm shift in ethics if we are to survive and thrive.
Two books which point the way:  The Sacred Balance -Rediscovering Our Place in Nature, by David Suzuki; and The Web of Meaning - Integrating Science and Traditional Wisdom to Find Our Place in the Universe, by Jeremy Lent.
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Not only my opinion.  Be Well


Tuesday, March 30, 2021

One of our carbon "sinks" has been overestimated...

according to research at Stanford University, et.al.

 https://earth.stanford.edu/news/one-earths-biggest-carbon-sinks-has-been-overestimated#gs.xl3lt0

If these findings remain solid vis-a-vis other studies, the management of grassland and forest ecosystems may be significantly altered/impacted.  Furthermore, how we manage soil might be changed.

Soil is a highly complex, crucial system that too often is ignored or marginalized by politicians, planners, policy makers, and the petrochemical industry.  Hopefully, that will change for the better, and soon.
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Not only my opinion.  Be Well

Sunday, February 21, 2021

Ten Essentials

 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214629617304413#sec0080
The article, found in the Journal Energy Research & Social Science Volume 40, is titled "Ten essentials for action-oriented and second order energy transitions, transformations and climate change research".  According to its multiple authors, if we as a species are to transition to a low-carbon and sustainable world, then there must be a paradigm shift in research approaches, entrenched disciplines, institutions, and political systems.  Researchers thus far have been great at grasping the problem and proposing solutions, but not so great at identifying HOW to make the transition happen.

The article at the link above is about three years old.  I'm curious as to whether or not any of the "ten essentials" have been implemented anywhere.  Some of you may know the answer to that.
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Not only my opinion.  Stay Well

Sunday, January 3, 2021

"Getting Back to Normal" is Not Where We Want To Be

Here's what "normal" has meant for decades---

Trumpism is small potatoes compared to the scourge of neoliberalism.  Monbiot writes for The Guardian, & is one of my favorite writers.  In this short clip, he explains how neoliberalism is destroying democracy while claiming to promote freedom.  He also shows how a wannabe autocrat can rise to power in the current neoliberal environment.

At the link below is a review of Monbiot's book, Out of the Wreckage.  Not being one to only warn people of danger and disaster, in the book he offers beginning steps to correct the wreckage caused by neoliberalism.

In addition to his suggestions, I again encourage you all to work toward the implementation of ecological economics, a la Herman Daly, et.al. [See previous posts on this venue, especially those in May - September.]
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Not only my opinion.  Stay Well 

Saturday, November 7, 2020

Watch the Moving Bar Graph (at the link below)

Here's an email I sent to family and friends.  We all need to get serious about this subject.  Tick-tock---

And that's not even considering methane emissions, which are increasing exponentially.  Methane is multiple times more potent than CO2 as a greenhouse gas.

Time for an attitude & lifestyle change.

Climate Change is now locked in for decades.  All we can do is work toward making sure it doesn't get TWICE (or more) as bad as now.

In the mid-1970's when I lived next to Puget Sound, the highest temp in summer was about 85 degrees.  14 yrs ago, it reached 100 degrees more than a few times during summer.

15 yrs ago, when I lived on 38 acres near Red Bluff, CA, 114 degrees during summer was not uncommon.  All the above was prior to the current, fairly rapid thawing of permafrost tundra in Arctic regions... which is releasing tons of methane into the atmosphere.

Bottom line:  if we (& that means all of us, not just tree-huggers like me:) don't change our lifestyle, our overconsumption, our agriculture, & industrial production, Nature will.  That's guaranteed.  If you truly care about your kids, grandkids, & their future kids, do all you can to support a shift to some version of Ecological Economics.

Trump & Crew will be gone before long.  It's time to repair the damage they've done to our habitat, and to our future.  It's also time to watch Biden like a hawk.  He's so much better than Trump, but firmly in the back pocket of the Financial Sector, and not exactly Mr. Sustainability.
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Not only my opinion.  Be Well

Sunday, August 30, 2020

"Surviving and Thriving in the 21st Century"

It's a free, online booklet discussing ten major global risks we all face, and proposed solutions.
https://humanfuture.net/sites/default/files/CHF_Roundtable_Report_March_2020.pdf
From the Commission for the Human Future.
Worth the read.
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Not only my opinion.  Be Well

Monday, May 18, 2020

Corona, Climate Disruption, and Biodiversity - All Connected


Here's why ecosystems are important, biodiversity is crucial, and Climate Disruption must be addressed immediately.

https://www.propublica.org/article/climate-infectious-diseases
At the very least, read the first few paragraphs.
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Why BIODIVERSITY is crucial to the well-being of humanity---
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCH1Gre3Mg0
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For your ecological glossary---

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecosystem

Ecosystem Services and their value---
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6luBEJfi3s
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An important point to remember:  ecosystems are dynamic, always adjusting, always striving for a type of homeostasis (balance).  When we humans interfere with the functioning of them, we should do so with the least damage possible under the particular circumstances.  Why?  Because:  1) they all, directly or indirectly, contribute to our health, prosperity, & well-being; and 2) human existence is not possible without the functioning of natural cycles, and those cycles are found in ecosystems.  Even if you're in artificial surroundings all day and night, you still need clean air, clean water, decent food, shelter, protection from floods, disease, etc.  That all is provided by properly functioning ecosystems.  Everything is connected to everything else.  [Barry Commoner's first law of ecology.  https://www.greenleft.org.au/content/barry-commoner-scientist-activist-radical-ecologist ]
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Not only my opinion.  Be Well